Machines such as, for example, wheel loaders, motor graders, track-type tractors, dump trucks, and other types of machinery are used to perform a variety of tasks associated with an industry such as, mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation, or any other such industry. In order to perform these tasks, a machine may include a plurality of systems and each system may have one or more controllers, such as electronic control units (ECUs) or electronic control modules (ECMs). The ECMs may form a network and may be in communication with each other via one or more data links.
A particular function performed by the machine may usually involve several ECMs. Accordingly, a configuration change to one ECM may require a few corresponding changes to other ECMs in the machine. Therefore, synchronization of configuration files on all the ECMs may be needed in response to a configuration change to one of the ECMs. Such a configuration synchronization is typically performed manually by an operator of the machine. However, manually updating the configurations may be time-consuming and may require special skills and may introduce risks associated with human errors. In addition, conventional configuration updates usually result in a new release of one or more software programs, and the releasing process may cost significant money. Therefore, there is a need for automatic configuration synchronization, such that the configurations on all ECMs are synchronized automatically once a ECM specific configuration change occurs on one or more ECMs.
A method for automatically updating control programs in a hydraulic controller is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,898,502 to Watanabe et al. (“the '502 patent”). The '502 patent describes a function changing system for construction machinery that includes a hydraulic excavator and a base station. A main controller of the system includes control programs and performs constant control functions to the hydraulic excavator. The control programs stored in the main controller can be modified to change the functions of the hydraulic excavator. In the '502 patent, a method determines if the control programs need to be upgraded, and if they do, the main controller will receive upgraded control programs sent from the base station and will rewrite the content of the control program station.
Although the technique described in the '502 patent may be effective for configuring a controller, it may be problematic. For example, the method described in the '502 patent uses a base station to upgrade the control programs in the main controller of the hydraulic excavator. Such a control program upgrade may affect other controllers involved in controlling the hydraulic excavator. However, the method does not automatically synchronize configurations of the other controllers. As a result, configurations of controllers involved in the same controlling task may be inconsistent, which may cause machine malfunctions. Furthermore, the control program updating described in the '502 patent is operated in a one-way mode from the base station side to the hydraulic excavator. Therefore, the method described in the '502 patent may be incapable of collecting status data from a plurality of controllers in a controller network and monitoring configuration changes made to any of these controllers.
The disclosed system and method for synchronization configurations in a controller network are directed towards overcoming one or more of the shortcomings set forth above.